1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for producing a wave winding for electric-machine starters, whereby individual winding sections are continuously and successively shaped into a wave winding on a former during the winding process with the aid of shaping elements that can be moved by a radial component. The invention also relates to an apparatus for producing a wave winding for electric-machine starters.
2. Description of the Related Technology
In producing starters, the predominant practice is to prefabricate coils on a former, strip them off into a drawing device, and then draw them axially into the starter slots. Problems arise in producing or transferring a wave winding directly over the drawing tool or transfer tool.
DE-PS 33 43 390 shows a method and apparatus for coiling and putting a wave winding into the slots of starters. In the case of this apparatus, a complete coil is first wound onto a set of first shaping elements that are arranged in a circle, and then a set of second shaping elements acts against the coil from the outside and deforms it. In the same drawing operation with the radial stroke of the second shaping elements, the first shaping elements must give way until a wave winding is formed. Other publications are also known that feature similar designs. In contrast to the device described in JP 5653936 B2, these devices have one thing in common: they first wind an approximately round coil with several windings and then deform them, all of the windings together, to form a wave winding. This method is very expensive and susceptible to trouble because the device consists of a large number of moving parts. In order to achieve uniform wave-winding quality, the first shaping elements must operate synchronously with the second shaping elements or be equipped with expensive dash pots. Since all of the windings are deformed at the same time, a relatively large amount of force is required, and the device needs to be correspondingly more robust in design. Since shaping is done only once, the complete winding has been pre-wound onto shaping elements and a good deal of manufacturing time is lost since the winding device has to stop moving during the process of shaping and transferring the winding into the receiver.
On the other hand, the device of JP 5653936 B2 is obviously intended for winding only single-layer wave windings.